Spring Arena

Thursday, 28 June 2018

“You need to let our people know the current state of the country so that they will not make the mistake they made in 2015 by voting for Mohammadu Buhari. "We don’t need anybody to tell us that we are suffering. “It is unimaginable that while Nigerians are suffering untold economic hardship, including unpaid salaries", due to the misrule of the APC, governors elected on the platform of the APC diverted N150 million each, amounting to a humongous N3.6 billion to fund their wasteful national convention in Abuja”.

This was the submission Kola Ologbodiyan, National publicity secretary of the people’s Democratic party (PDP) gave while playing host to members of the party from his Kabba/Bunu constituency of Kogi state at the party’s National Secretariat on Wednesday.

The party members who were on curtsey visits at the party’s headquarters in solidarity with their “son” lauded the publicity secretary for helping to put the ruling party on its toes since his victory at the PDP national elective convention in December 2017. Ologbodiyan, while appreciating his constituents for the visits, tasked them to go home and impressed it on others that 2019 is a year of decision that must be taken to salvage the nation “from the grip of backwardness typified by the governing party, (APC). He said Nigeria today is passing through security turbulence times

“Recently, the Brooking Report shows that under President Buhari and APC governors, millions of Nigerians are daily dropping below poverty line. According to the report, Nigeria under Buhari has become poverty capital of the world. There is hunger and starvation everywhere, yet the APC stole N3.6 billion from public coffers to fund its national convention. “Everybody knows that APC is a party of corruption”.

That is why their choice of a national chairman is an individual overburdened by allegations of humongous corruption and alleged stealing of public funds, yet enjoying presidential cover, even when the petition against him at the EFCC is in the public domain.” He condemned the manner of emergence of the new APC national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, saying he must be investigated for alleged corrupt deeds if the President Buhari administration is to be taken seriously in its fight to rid the nation of corruption. “The PDP restates its demand that the EFCC immediately commence investigation against Oshiomhole, otherwise, it would have no ground upon which to continue to arrest, investigate and arraign other Nigerians on allegations of corruption”, he said.

He further noted that the PDP has tasked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to recognize Oshiomhole, “as his emergence by affirmation is a violation of democratic requirements of direct voting by delegates.

“You will recall that in 2012, we had a convention which INEC declared a nullity because they said we did not follow the rules‎. As we speak today, the coronation that INEC conducted at Eagle Square did not fit into any of our electoral laws. We therefore call on INEC to declare it null and void. All those who did not go through votes at the convention, all those who were elected by voice votes, INEC must declare their elections null and void because they did not go through the electoral laws.”

The party scribe also said President Buhari could no longer claim to be a man of integrity, saying until he provides answers to some troubling questions bordering on acts of corruption of those in government; his (Buhari) integrity credentials would continue to be questioned. “Each time President Buhari poses as a man of integrity, informed Nigerians shudder.